17/06/2015 - The CNC, the FFA and several regional film funds in Germany are launching new development funds

A month after Frédérique Bredin, president of the CNC, was in Cannes to sign the agreement for a French-German co-production development fund for TV fiction series that was launched in collaboration with several regional film funds in Germany, another French-German development fund has been created by the CNC and the German Federal Film Fund (FFA) in order to support young producers who are working on co-productions between the two countries. 

The idea for the French-German TV development fund, with the participation of the German film funds FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, had already been discussed during the German-French Film Meeting (also known as “Les Rendez-vous franco-allemands du cinema”) in Leipzig last autumn. The organisations are providing a total of €200,000 in order to support the development of TV fiction series for the German and French markets. The programme is due to start this summer, and the maximum sum per project will be €50,000.

Other French-German co-production opportunities include the Grand Accord, an agreement between Arte France and its German partners ARD and ZDF, the Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris one-year training programme for European film producers, and the Mini-Traité, which is a German-French agreement that supports co-productions and has an annual budget of €3 million.

After the successful launch of the Mini-Traité in 2001, one of the subsequent goals was to expand the fund for additional project development. The plan is finally becoming a reality, having already been announced for the tenth anniversary of the Mini-Traité in Cannes. The FFA and the CNC are joining forces to set up a development fund for young producers who are preparing their first or second German-French co-production. The new German-French development fund will have a budget of €200,000 per year and will foster common projects by newcomers in the two countries.